Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Hoenig Made An Important Speech Today

The proposal by Hoenig, 64, the longest-serving current Fed policy maker, is in line with his previous calls for the breakup of large financial firms and for tougher bank regulations than officials such as Chairman Ben S. Bernanke have publicly supported. Hoenig, who retires Oct. 1, said last month that international capital requirements are too lax to prevent another U.S. banking crisis. ...Asked by an audience member why his views were in the minority at the central bank, Hoenig said that it’s “hard to know” and that his outlook is shaped by his experiences over three decades and multiple banking crises.

Haha! They did not report the rest of his comment, because it was uttered in a mysterious banking dialect.

It's easy to be against the Fed's policies and stillget paid. If he truly felt that the Fed's policies wereleading us to ruin, and I think he did, he should have resigned in protest. Too many people in powerwill go along to get along.

You two are entitled to your opinion, but I am glad he was the voice of no. I am glad that voice was represented. This year he doesn't get to vote, but at least last year someone was arguing from experience rather than hope.

As a general rule, I don't think that people should resign from voting positions just because they are outvoted. Following that rule would lead to a total lack of debate.

Why resign? So they can have another yes-man in the echo chamber? For the rest of the country that is the WORST possible thing that could happen - if the Fed thinking/voting was unanimous, it would turn Fed opinions into de facto "knowledge and truth" that become the basis for future education.

The fewer dissenters in public life, the more the remaining dissenters look like crackpots.